The time for talking is over. Auguste Rodin now needs to go out and prove what Aidan O'Brien and everyone else in Ballydoyle have been saying for the last year is fact rather than fiction. This is D-day.
Everything that could have gone wrong in the Two Thousand Guineas (G1) did go wrong. The traveling, the ground, the pace of the race, his trip during it. From start to finish it was a tale of woe and his trainer is willing to simply put a line through it.
Everything he has seen from him otherwise suggests he is top notch and he does, of course, have that Futurity Trophy (G1) win as a juvenile on his CV to back up his argument.
O'Brien is already the most successful trainer in the history of the great race, winning it eight times. His first was in 2001 with Galileo and his most recent was the shock Serpentine sprung in 2020. He has been responsible for five favorites since 2014, but only Australia justified that tag.
Speaking about Auguste Rodin, who is the mount of dual Derby (G1) winner Ryan Moore, O'Brien said: "We've been very happy with him since Newmarket. There were a lot of factors that happened there which we couldn't control and we haven't seen anything since to suggest we should veer from our original plan.
"Running him over that short a trip meant every single beat had to go his way and instead every single beat went the opposite way. He is a beautiful-moving horse so soft ground was always going to be a worry for him. The trip was going to be plenty short for him too. He needed a clear run and, when Little Big Bear got galloped into, he wiped out Ryan and then Ryan got stuck in a pocket and there was no pace in the race either.
"So many things went wrong, and we were going to fly on the morning and two days before that all changed and we couldn't do that. Any one of those things could have been detrimental by themselves but they all landed on him on the one day."
O'Brien added: "He has always been special from day one, his movement and everything about him. Nothing has changed our minds about him."
On the remainder of his Derby team, O'Brien added: "San Antonio won at Dundalk and then went to Chester on soft ground. He has never run this far but is interesting as his dam Rain Goddess was second in the Irish Oaks (G1) and he is by Dubawi as well.
"Adelaide River is a straightforward horse. He ran at Chester but we don't think he's a soft-ground horse as he is a Galileo out of a War Front mare, which suggests he's a better-ground horse. We think he will stay and we'd be happy to go forward and ride him handy."
Order Out for More Family Fortune
Plenty of colts are said to be bred to win a Derby but the cliche especially rings true for Military Order.
He is by Frankel out of the Irish One Thousand Guineas (G1) second Anna Salai, as was Adayar who triumphed under William Buick in the Godolphin blue at Epsom two years ago.
Having a great pedigree does not guarantee being a great racehorse though, and the last time two brothers won was in the 19th century when Persimmon (1896) and Diamond Jubilee (1900) were successful.
However, Military Order has clearly inherited plenty of talent and comes into the race with a higher Racing Post Rating than Adayar, who was a 16-1 shot. He has looked an obvious candidate since winning Lingfield's Derby Trial Stakes last month.
He kept on strongly on a speed-favoring all-weather track that would not have played to his strengths and Charlie Appleby, who trained Adayar and the 2018 winner Masar, is pleased with how things have gone before his bid to land a third success in five years.
"We've done nothing extra with him since his win at Lingfield and he's just been going through his usual routine," he said. "We've been pleased with his preparation.
"He's going into the race looking great. He looks as though he's more there physically and mentally than Adayar at this stage of his career, but regardless of that Adayar went and won a Derby and this lad has got to go and do it now."
